Sunday, September 20, 2009

Blogging in the Field

Light blogging, as I am in the field with students this week, in the California and Oregon Cascades. Very nice trip thus far with stops in Crater Lake National Park (above), Lava Beds National Monument, Mt. Shasta, Castle Crags State Park, and tomorrow, Lassen Volcanic National Park. No eruptions, but lots of nice pyroclastic debris from past events.

Times have certainly changed though, as I am sitting on a folding chair overlooking McArthur Burney Falls in the middle of nowhere, and I have an internet connection! In the old days of field studies, to communicate with the home folks, I used to write these things called "letters" and "postcards", and people were paid to personally take these handwritten notes and to deliver them to the door of the recipient...

Hi, Gaelyn! Oregon Caves just didn't fit into the itinerary, though I would love to see them sometime. We did spend time crawling through lava tubes at Lava Beds National Monument. Roy-Z, definitely igneous themed! All you wanted to know about volcanoes but were afraid to ask!

About Me

I am a teacher of geology at Modesto Junior College and former president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Far Western Section. I have led field trips all over the western United States, and a few excursions overseas, but my homebase is the Sierra Nevada, the Great Valley, and the Coast Ranges of California.

Ask Geotripper

Is there something about geology that you are curious about? Do you have questions about the scientific aspects of political controversies? I can try to provide a scientist's perspective. Your questions and possible answers could be a springboard to a blog discussion, or they can be private. Anonymity is always assumed. Contact Geotripper at hayesg (at) mjc.edu.

Blooks, Boogers and Bleries

Here are some of the series I've produced for the Geotripper Blog:

The Other California: what to see when you've seen all the really famous places in the Golden State (in progress).Into the Great Unknown: A rafting journey down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The most incredible adventure of my life (so far)!

The Hawai'i That Was: An exploration of the geology, natural history, and anthropology of the most isolated lands on the planet. It's a lot more than beaches, shopping, and palm trees!